Transparency Update - 9/7/2022

When the Microphone Turns Inward: John Dehlin's Transparency Update and What It Reveals

Running a critical Mormon podcast for nearly two decades takes a toll that most listeners never see. On September 7, 2022, John Dehlin of Mormon Stories Podcast did something relatively rare in the online media space: he recorded a public transparency update addressed directly to his donors, viewers, and supporters, walking them through the personal and organizational pressures that had been quietly building behind the scenes.

The confession was unscripted, recorded late at night, and delivered with what sounded like genuine exhaustion. That alone makes it worth examining.

Background: Mormon Stories and the Burden of Independent Media

Mormon Stories Podcast launched in the mid-2000s and has become one of the most widely recognized platforms in the post-Mormon and faith-transition space. Dehlin built it through the Open Stories Foundation, a nonprofit that relies on donor support to fund operations, staff, and content production.

For years, the show operated on a shoestring. Dehlin has acknowledged going roughly five years without meaningful income from the project before it developed a sustainable revenue stream. That kind of investment, funded largely by personal sacrifice and family patience, creates a specific type of organizational psychology that is hard to outgrow.